Philip Hopkins
DURABLE eucalypt timbers are hard, strong and naturally resistant to decay, so can be used without any chemical treatment – and Gippsland farmland has emerged as a key region to grow this valuable timber.
The importance of this trend has been underlined by the state government’s decision on the native forest industry, the traditional source of durable hardwoods.
Of Australia’s approximate 900,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations, less than five per cent have a natural durability ratings of Class 1 and 2 (above-ground).
Enter Heartwood Unlimited, founded in 1995 – a boutique management company based in Gippsland that researches, plants and harvests native durable hardwoods. It manages about 2000 hectares (ha) of plantations – about 40 properties ranging in size from 10-20ha to 100ha – and is probably the largest grower of such timbers in Victoria.
Heartwood is driving a new plantation model that encompasses genetics, silviculture, harvesting, nutrition, biodiversity and agroforestry.
“Animals are an important part of our operation,” Heartwood Owner and Manager, Jon Lambert said.
Heartwood has been a driver in getting together a group of fellow travellers around Australia – and even in New Zealand – who have formed the Durable Eucalyptus Growers Forum.
“The idea is to visit one of the members each year,” Jon said.
The group started with its first forum at Yarram in 2018, which was followed by forums in northern NSW (two members), South-East Queensland and NZ last year after missing 18 months due to COVID-19.
This year, the group was back full circle to South Gippsland, with a role in central Victoria through Wood 4 Good. Next year will be hosted by a relative newcomer, Ironwood, based in central NSW.
Jon said growing durable hardwoods – trees such as spotted gum, yellow stringybark, mahogany, grey box, sugar gum, and ironbark was the common binder for the group.
“We don’t want to open the group for a whole lot of growers to come along as individuals. The values of the group are important; you have ‘skin in the game’ and are prepared to offer something up, knowing others will do the same – intellectual property, R&D, collaboration,” he said.
“It’s important to have a group that meets those requirements; we have protected that fairly well, but we do have guests invited to forums. All groups are growing and selling in some capacity; even Wood 4 Good sells firewood and poles from durable resources.”
Heartwood aims to be at the forefront of growing durable eucalypts, hence the emphasis on genetics, silviculture, harvesting, nutrition, biodiversity and agroforestry – an innovation that requires interaction with animals.
“We recently changed our name to Heartwood Unlimited to become more focussed on these key five areas, rather than just focus on forestry. These are all areas that require development to get right. We are burrowing away doing trials and tests, using different technologies to remain at the forefront. That parallels what our partner Radial Timber Australia in Yarram is doing,” he said.
Apart from Radial, Heartwood’s main investors are individuals grouped in investment trusts with two-to-10 members. There is not a single farmer.
“Farmers are inclined to do their own thing, or finances are an issue – farmers don’t usually have large amounts of finance up front,” Jon said.
Forestry is more suited to people with high taxable incomes and self-managed super funds, otherwise it is too difficult to fund or to make it stack up.
“We are finding that people have shifted, they don’t want to just get some trees, they want more than that – conservation qualities, carbon, farming forestry and capital growth,” Jon added.
Jon said Heartwood spent a lot of time aiming to do harvesting and thinning better.
“Harvesting in Australia and Victoria is geared to industrial-sized plantations. We’re smaller, looking at ways to make it more cost-effective as a business,” he said.
The emphasis on thinning plantations also has downstream impacts – a proliferation of grass and weeds, sometimes noxious weeds. Unlike pine plantations, which are thick and dark and rarely let in weeds and grasses, Jon said Heartwood thinned early to get some saw logs.
“So, you get extra light and water on the ground, creating grass and weeds,” he said.
That led to problems such as spreading weeds to neighbours, creating potential fire hazards and competition with the trees. Heartwood’s solution has been to run animals through their plantations, creating a business called Heartwood Herds in 2018.
“Animals have become part of what we do. We run a number of our own herds – cattle and sheep, as well as recent trials with goats. Genuine agroforestry. It can be a juggle, grazing the animals amongst the trees,” he said.
Some aspects were counter-intuitive to farming alone. For example, forestry required sites at the end of December to have the grass well fed down, whereas farmers prefer the grass to last through summer.
“Sheep have been the most successful. We started with Wiltshire and did some breeding… they have a high lambing rate, eat a broader range, more like goats, are not quite as aggressive as others, so there is less need for intense fencing. There are trade-offs everywhere,” Jon said.
“Some Strzelecki blocks have major weed problems. We have been able to control the majority of weeds and minimise the chemicals we put out and still get good breeding numbers on those blocks. They protect their young from eagles and foxes.”
Goats have not been as successful.
“They have been fantastic in what they eat. I believe they are one of the only animals that neutralises the blackberry seeds, and don’t spread them through dung, like other animals do,” Jon said.
“But the problem with the goats, the breeds we have had, they’ve got terrible footrot on high rainfall blocks. The trim and bath management costs go through the roof, but they do a great job, have knocked out a lot of noxious weeds. They will climb up the trees as far as they can to get to the blackberries. However, they have a poor kidding rate and require excellent fencing.”
Initial carbon projects have been less successful.
“I wouldn’t say I am a huge fan of the Clean Energy Regulator. It feels a lot like they have designed their carbon set-up so we can’t benefit. There is not a single species we grow in Gippsland that is even listed,” Jon said.
“In carbon schemes, we get dumped in with environmental plantings, native revegetation, which has a low carbon value per hectare. Most of our projects barely stack up. I’m told a change is coming but haven’t seen it. It’s pretty frustrating; the scheme seems designed for large corporates.”
While Heartwood has been fortunate with fire, storms are another matter.
“We have had a lot of storms in recent years. They are hard to handle in terms of rainfall and wind. They have knocked out fences and roads. If they don’t knock over the trees, you’re left nervous for a month or so while the soil is so saturated; wind can cause more damage than it normally would. That has been challenging,” Jon said.
There have been stock losses and operations have been delayed, which has also been costly for clients.
A successful harvest and resulting product gladdens the soul.
A blue gum plantation of 13ha planted by Heartwood in 2000 on a 650 millimetre site was thinned multiple times and pruned to six metres, resulting in a final stocking of about 100 stems per hectare.
It was clear-felled in 2023-24, with 50 per cent saw log yield.
“The owner was very happy! He got a good price,” Jon said.
“It was a proud moment when we sent over 1000 tonnes of logs to the Radial mill, which was so encouraging for the sawmill. The staff were thrilled to be back cutting logs.”
The wood was cut into 50, 75, 100 and 120mm boards, mainly baton boards, at Radial Timber, with a recovery rate of about 32 per cent.
“The product is now being used in vertical boards,” Jon said, and although there were lyctus issues to be resolved, the project went from seedling to timber product in 23 years – a major achievement that also highlighted the huge task confronting durable hardwood plantations.
“This is why just turning off the tap of native forest was going to be a big challenge,” Jon said.
